The present invention relates to a process for benzene hydrogenation in the presence of an impurity in the benzene-containing feedstock.
The use of supported platinum catalysts, such as platinum on zeolite, as catalyst for the hydrogenation of benzene is well known. It is also known that water acts as a deactivating agent, catalyst poison, for platinum catalysts. Pretreatment of the feedstock to hydrogenation processes to remove water is common practice. Water, however, often remains in the feedstock after drying treatments in a quantity in the part per million range which, depending on the reaction process, is often adequate to have a noticeable deactivating effect.